Shake-up to help UK firms win deals

Francis Maude is unveiling “radical reforms” to stimulate growth by ending Whitehall’s often “shortsighted and risk averse approach” to awarding major deals for state goods and services.

Earlier this year the Government came under fire for opting to buy rail rolling stock for the Thameslink service from Germany, which was blamed for Derby-based train builder Bombardier shedding 1,400 jobs.

Ministers said at the time EU laws prevented them from giving preference to British firms.

The Cabinet Office Minister is travelling to Brussels to press for EU rules over government procurement to be simplified.

Mr Maude said: “We need to make things better for business in the UK – the current system isn’t working.

“UK-based suppliers are finding themselves excluded, opportunities for growth are missed due to the public sector’s timidity and carrying out a procurement in the UK costs over twice as much as in France.”

Mr Maude said Government plans include publishing £50billion of contracts online, making it 40% faster to do business with Whitehall.